Bell, Schwarber and Harrison activated, Lucroy designated

The Nationals activated Josh Bell, Kyle Schwarber and Josh Harrison from the COVID-19-related injured list and will have all three veterans available for tonight's series opener in St. Louis.

Bell, Schwarber and Harrison were cleared to return today after completing their league- and city-mandated protocols. All had been quarantined since mid-to-late last week after either testing positive for COVID-19 or being deemed close contacts to someone else who did.

Manager Davey Martinez hasn't unveiled his lineup for tonight's game against the Cardinals yet, but there's a good chance all three players will be on his card, with Bell batting cleanup and Schwarber batting fifth. That should provide a significant boost to a lineup that struggled mightily during the season's first week, getting shut out three times in six games en route to a 1-5 record.

With those three players back, only one National remains on the COVID-19-related IL: Jon Lester. The left-hander appears to be healthy, but according to Martinez needs time to build his arm back up after his second unexpected layoff in six weeks. (Lester had to leave spring training in early March to have one of his parathyroid glands removed.)

To clear space on the active roster for Bell, Schwarber and Harrison, the Nationals made three transactions this afternoon: Jonathan Lucroy was designated for assignment, while Luis García and Yadiel Hernandez were optioned to the club's alternate training site in Fredericksburg.

Signed only three days before the season opener after both Yan Gomes and Alex Avila landed on the IL, Lucroy wound up catching four of the Nationals' six games and impressed with his bat (5-for-14 with a double) and his work behind the plate. The club kept Lucroy around through the weekend in Los Angeles despite Gomes and Avila's return, but now that the entire group of position players has been activated there was no more space for him.

The good news for Lucroy, who is only a few days away from reaching 10 years of major league service time and the lifetime benefits that come from it: He'll continue to accrue service time while in DFA limbo. He could either end up being traded, released or outrighted to the minors.

García and Hernandez, who had been added to the opening day roster to fill the losses of others who opened the season on the injured list, will remain with the club in St. Louis and be part of the five-player taxi squad for this series. They're joined by catcher Tres Barrera, outfielder Gerardo Parra and infielder Adrián Sanchez.

Relievers Ryne Harper and T.J. McFarland, who had been on the taxi squad over the weekend in Los Angeles, have now returned to Fredericksburg.